Knowledge is the Foundation of Success

Advertisers are accustomed to the way in which Google AdWords attributes conversions to the last ad click a consumer has made before completing his conversion. But what if there were a way to take into account all of a user’s interactions with your ads leading up to that conversion? More than ever, today’s consumers are researching and interacting on different devices before they take that final conversion action. Research shows that while the vast majority of conversion actions take place on desktops, many consumers conduct research on their mobile phones or tablets prior to purchasing. AdWords has now introduced new attribution models that can go beyond last-click measurement. These new models can offer insight into your customer’s actions before that final conversion action and allow you to bid more efficiently. AdWords now offers six different attribution models:

Last Click Attribution (the current default) – Gives all credit for the conversion to the last-clicked keyword. This is most effective for those with the most conservative growth strategies.

First Click Attribution – Gives all the credit for the conversion to the first-clicked keyword. This is the most growth-oriented strategy.

Linear Attribution – Distributes the credit for the conversion equally across all clicks on the path. For a moderate growth strategy.

Time Decay Attribution – Gives more credit to clicks that happened closer in time to the conversion. For a conservative growth strategy.

Position-Based Attribution – Gives 40% of the credit to both the first- and last-clicked keyword, with the remaining 20% spread out across the other clicks on the path. For a growth-oriented strategy.

Data-Driven Attribution* – Gives credit to the clicked keywords based on how imperative they were in the conversion process. This is based on the account’s performance.

*Note: only accounts with 800+ conversions and 20,000 clicks in a 30-day span to qualify to use this type of attribution.

Choosing the right attribution model will help you put the performance of different keywords into the proper perspective. This will give you a truer sense of the value of a keyword and allow you to have more insight when setting bids on that keyword. You may also discover that keywords used earlier in the conversion process have more influence than you realized, which can help you avoid pausing or underbidding on these keywords.

Google has another unique tool to help advertisers make the most of their paid ad space. Advertisers can include Seller Ratings as part of their ad and can take advantage of this feature to highlight the quality of their products or service and lend additional credibility to their business.

There is no cost involved in showing Seller Ratings with your ads, but ad click charges apply as they normally would. These extensions can appear in ads in the top positions, either just next to or just below the display URL. Your business must have at least 30 unique reviews (each from the past 12 months) and an overall rating of 3.5 stars or higher in order to be eligible to have Seller Ratings appear alongside your ad. There is nothing additional you need to do (and it’s important to note that you can’t force Google to show your ratings), but if you prefer not to have Seller Ratings appear with your ads, there is an opt-out feature available as well.

In order to compile these Seller Ratings, Google pulls reviews from a number of sources including Google Trusted Stores, StellaService, Google Consumer Surveys, and individual reviews from a seller’s domain from a wide variety of third-party sources. Google automatically filters out any reviews it considers to be questionable.

If your store doesn’t yet feature reviews, you can apply for free to become a Google Trusted Store by following this link: Google Trusted Stores.

In order to get the most out of Seller Ratings and to ensure that the reviews shown are as accurate as possible, there are things that you, as an advertiser, can do to improve the quality of the ratings shown.

Make sure your customers have a positive experience! Great customer service is key to building customer loyalty and earning positive reviews. Encourage your customers to fill out a review!

Interact with your customers. Use Social Media to re-engage former customers and recruit new ones. The more you engage with existing and potential consumers in a positive way, the more brand recognition you’ll have, and the more likely they will be to leave positive reviews.

In order to make it easier for advertisers to understand how effective these automatic extensions are, Google has unveiled its new Automated Extensions Report.

My co-worker Cary blogged about effectively supplementing your conventional keyword-targeted campaigns with AdWords Dynamic Search back in August. But now we need to discuss some potential pitfalls of this type of campaign, and review how to refine them to be the most effective.

Google AdWords Dynamic Search Ads campaigns are far from “set it and forget it.” They need to be monitored closely and refined to avoid potential wasted clicks and spend. For example, if you find that that your DSA campaign accounts for 40% of your spend but only 15% of your revenue, there are definite refinements that need to be made to the campaign to make it profitable.

Negative Keywords Are Critical:
Since, by their nature, Google AdWords Dynamic Search Ads are dynamically generated and therefore less in your control, the addition of negative keywords to the campaign is critical. You can use the Search Terms Report feature on the Auto Targets tab to view the search statements that triggered clicked ads.

You’ll want to create negatives of any keywords that have proven unrelated to the goods or services you sell, as well as possibly excluding keywords that you have paused in your regular search campaigns due to low profitability, out of stock or seasonal items.

Block Undesirable Landing Pages:
The Search Term Report will also show you landing pages automatically generated in your Dynamic Search ads. You can easily exclude any undesirable landing pages by using Dynamic Ad Target Exclusions from the Auto Targets tab. You’ll likely want to keep the served landing pages to those that actively feature products or services, and exclude those that include reviews, shipping and return information, contact information, etc.

Find Valuable New Keywords:
The Search Term Report can also provide new keywords to add to your AdWords campaign. Those search statements that produce results can be valuable additions as keywords in your keyword-targeted search campaigns.

Refine Your Targeting:
Choose from categories, URLs, page titles and page contents if you want to assert greater control, and give yourself the capability to break down categories of products for budget control or seasonal availability. Also, by grouping highly-related pages together (much like highly-refined ad groups in a traditional search campaign) and products of similar values together (high-price, high-margin products vs. low-price, low-margin products), the relevance of your ads will increase and an increase in ROI will likely follow.

Remember to check your campaign regularly and take advantage of the tools available to assess if there is wasteful spend. Google AdWords Dynamic Search Ads are not a panacea for all marketers, and regular review and refinement will enable you to determine if they are a good fit for you.